Tuesday, December 23, 2014

We want to say thank you to all of our viewers for this blog. In our first year, we reached over 40,000 views, which literally would not have been possible without all of you.Here's a look back at some of our most popular blog posts this year in case you didn't get to see them all.

This is our last blog post for 2014. We want to wish you a wonderful holiday season and please check back with us in the new year.

Monday, December 22, 2014

If you're planning to travel this week, make sure you check your flight status or the road conditions before you go.

Starting Tuesday, a major storm system--stretching from the Midwest down
to the South and up the East Coast — will bring heavy rain,
thunderstorms and strong winds that are likely to cause travel headaches
on the roads and flight delays from the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

For road conditions, you can call 511 to get the latest road conditions on most states in the country. (There are few places without coverage. Check this map to see where the gaps are.)

Kansas does utilize 511 and you can also visit Kandrive.org for travel information.

Friday, December 19, 2014

"Did you try googling it?" This is a top response in most offices when a colleague is having trouble finding the solution to a problem.

Many of us don't go a day without using a search engine of some kind. What do those searches say about us? Google answers that along with what the top searches were for 2014 in the video below. Check it out and see if some form of transportation made the list.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

How do you transport something that weighs as much as 400 cars? That's the question that ABB, a multinational corporation, had to figure out in order to transfer the world's largest HVDC transformers from Sweden to Brazil. Find out how they did it in the video below.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Here's a look at the Governor's mansion all lit up for the holidays. Can you guess what year this photo was taken? Here's a hint: "Like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind." Give us your guess in the comment box below.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Under
the Governor’s allotment plan announced Tuesday, the Kansas Department of
Transportation will transfer $95.7 million out of the State Highway Fund.

In addition, a 3 percent reduction from KDOT’s operations budget will be
included in a rescission bill that will be considered by the 2015 Legislature.
The 3 percent reduction amounts to $7.8 million out of an operations budget of
$260 million. Although the 3 percent reduction will impact the agency’s salary
budget, there will be no layoffs or salary reductions.

Projects announced under the T-WORKS
transportation program will continue as planned. Projects already let under the
10-year program have cost less than planned, federal and state revenues have
been higher than anticipated, and bond rates have been more favorable than
expected.

KDOT leaders also continue to look for
savings through technology and innovation where possible.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

As we get closer to winter, it's always good to remember the important role our snow plow drivers play in allowing us to get where we need to go in inclement weather. Travelers play a role in allowing our snow plow drivers to do their job safely. Check out the video below to learn more.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Can you guess which new vehicle technology older drivers ranked as the best feature? It wasn't an emergency response system or drowsy driver alerts. The top pick was a blind spot awareness system. Check out the photo below to see how all the features ranked.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Thursday
morning at the KDOT offices started normal enough, until we checked our twitter
notifications and the whole day turned around.

Shane
Heiman’s second grade class from Lawrence’s New York Elementary sent KDOT their
choices for new license plates.

Every
school day Mr. Heiman has his class of 18 students do a daily journal entry and
then they tweet their responses to people or businesses that might be
interested in their ideas. So far this school year, Heiman’s class of 7 and 8
year olds have gotten at least one response a week from the people they tweet
at.

Unfortunately,
KDOT doesn’t handle the license plates it’s the Kansas Department of Revenue,
but these journal entries were too good not to share and we will make sure to
pass on your ideas to them.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Did you know that in 1830 you could travel across the U.S. nearly twice as fast as you could thirty years before? The Mother Nature Network has put together an excellent article showing how much travel times changed during the 1800s. Click here to see the maps of routes and learn more about why travel times improved so much.